RWL Water

OPEX & Energy Savings

Material reduction in energy drives OPEX savings

Reduced Energy Consumption

On average, about 50% of the energy consumed by a WWTP is used by the blowers to pump air into the water and keep the biomass alive and in suspension.

As the vast majority of the biomass in an Organica FCR is attached (as opposed to in suspension), the suspended solids concentrations are lower in each reactor. Since oxygen transfer in clearer water is more efficient, this means that less air is required to keep the ecosystem alive in an Organica FCR.

Thus the blowers in an Organica FCR consume significantly less power than those in a conventional solution for the same quality and quantity of wastewater, resulting in – on average – 30% energy savings compared to Activated sludge.

Less Sludge Production

As a result of the use of both plant roots and Organica’s proprietary bio-fiber media as fixed film carriers, Organica FCR WWTPs typically are home to 3,000-4,000 species of organisms, as opposed to 600-800 in the typical Activated Sludge WWTP.

This means higher organisms with longer lifecycles (unicellular cilia, worms, arthropods) will establish themselves on the biofilm, creating a multilevel food-chain where the bacteria that process waste material are consumed by higher-level organisms, which are in turn prey for even higher-level organisms like worms or snails. The result is that, for the same quality and quantity of wastewater, Organica FCR’s produce on average 30-40% less excess sludge at the end of the treatment process when compared to conventional approaches.

Reduced Labor Requirements

“The training took only two days and it is really easy to operate the WWTP. The whole community benefits from the lack of noise and odors ” Operator at Organica-powered WWTP in Le Lude, France

All Organica-powered WWTPs have a comparatively higher degree of automation, thus reducing operator interface and hence personnel requirement on site. Depending on the size of the WWTP a few people can easily run the plant with a few hours of work every day.